Ratings: 'True Blood' tide lifts 'Entourage' and 'Hung'

One more sign that "True Blood" has become a bona fide hit for HBO: It's helping the shows that come after it in a big way.

The vampire drama hit another series high on Sunday (June 12), bringing in 3.9 million viewers. But the bigger news is how "True Blood" drove viewers to the two comedies that follow, "Hung" and "Entourage."

Coming off a one-week hiatus for the July 4 weekend, "Hung" scored 3.6 million viewers, a 29 percent increase over its series premiere. Following that, "Entourage" grabbed its biggest audience in more than two years (3.4 million). That's twice the number of people that watched the fifth-season premiere last September.

HBO has also started releasing cumulative viewing numbers for its shows, and while they're not exactly a fair comparison to ratings for shows on broadcast and ad-supported cable, they're kind of interesting anyway. Factoring in multiple airings, DVR use and on-demand plays, "True Blood" is averaging 10.8 million viewers this season. The "Hung" premiere, meanwhile, brought in 9.1 million people.

Elsewhere on cable over the weekend, Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva" and the new season of "Eureka" on SyFy got off to decent starts.

"Drop Dead Diva" drew 2.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched series launch on the channel since "Army Wives" in 2007. The show, which stars Brooke Elliott and Brooke D'Orsay, snagged a 1.6 rating in Lifetime's core demo of women 18-49, a big improvement over 9 p.m. Sunday slot's recent performance.

"Eureka," meanwhile, bowed to 2.6 million viewers on Friday. That's a little bit lower than its premiere numbers last year, but considering that it aired on Tuesdays -- a night with higher overall viewership -- last year, SyFy is pretty happy with the numbers. The show also won its time period on cable in adults 25-54.